Davido fixed shows in Nigeria and Australia on the same day and only honoured one of them.

Afrobeats sensation David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has apologised to his fans for failing to show up for an event in Warri, south-south Nigeria.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the 30-year-old musical superstar fixed shows in Nigeria and Australia on 6 October. In separate videos, Davido promoted the two events telling his supporters to come out and that he can’t wait to have a “timeless time” with them.

While he honoured the Australian show, the singer ignored the Nigerian event which was organised by BrownHill Event Inc, a company owned by Amaju Pinnick, former President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).

Mr Pinnick was the first to call out Davido on Friday night saying they paid $94,000 to the singer in April and booked an $18,000 chartered flight from EAS Airlines that would have conveyed the artist and his crew to and fro the event. The flight was scheduled to depart from Lagos Executive Jet Lounge at 2 p.m. on 6 October.

Aside from making payments, the organisers said they went ahead to engage sponsors, make promotional adverts, tickets, and other crucial preparations prompted by the artist’s intention to perform at the Warri Again Independence Show.

Davido, who broke onto the scene in 2011, however, said he had communicated to them “months ago” that he was not going to be available.

The singer added that “it’s a shame” they went ahead to continue promoting the show using his name.

PREMIUM TIMES cannot confirm at what point the singer communicated to BrownHill that he would not be available, but on 29 September, a week before the concert, organisers sent a letter to officially remind Davido of the Warri Again Independence Show.

The copy of the letter seen by this medium read: “You are billed to perform at the Warri Again Independence Show as the Headline Artist resulting from the execution of the Performance Agreement you signed on 30 March 2023 which led us to make payment for the sum of $94,500 that was paid in full as performance fee upon execution of the Performance Agreement.”

“We have met all our obligations under the said contract and we expect to see you at the show come 6th of October 2023,” the letter read.

Davido apologised to fans

The singer apologised to his fans Sunday saying that he had communicated to organisers “a long time ago” that he was not going to make it physically.

“But for reasons best known to them, they continued to promote the show using my name and it’s a shame,” the singer said.

“Apologies you had to experience this,” Davido added in a message to “my lovely fans in Warri that spent their hard-earned money to come out.”

He promised to be back in Delta State to do it “proper, bigger and better.”

The Afrobeats sensation, whose music has been streamed more than 2 billion times, released his fourth studio album, Timeless, this year and has just concluded a promotional odyssey, bouncing between Lagos, Johannesburg, New York, and London to excite his international fanbase.

Timeless has already attracted critical praise and digital plays. Within the first ten days of its release, the album had been streamed over 133 million times (with 43 million streams in the US market alone) and hit #2 on Billboard’s World Album chart.

Organisers may be considering legal options

The management team of the Warri Again Concerts said Davido’s failure to perform at the concert “despite having received full payment and logistics made available to guarantee his attendance is quite unfortunate.”

“Our legal team has been fully briefed and will advise on the next steps,” the group said in a statement signed by Victor Wokocha, project director of Brownhill Events.

“Notwithstanding the unfortunate incident, the concert was a huge success and proved to be the best edition yet,” the statement said.

Contract details seen by PREMIUM TIMES show that in the event of a “cancellation or postponement due to the wilful negligence of or intention of the Artist,” the artist will have to “refund any deposit paid within 14 days of the event date passing and the Artist is required to pay for any damages accruing for his actions.”